For one race walker, an unexpected detour

Race walking is like a dentist appointment. No one gleefully volunteers. There is generally some teeth pulling in the mix.

No youngster has a poster of Captain Robert Barclay Allardice on the wall with dreams of following in the shashaying footsteps of the Father of the 19th century sport of pedestrianism, a precursor to race walking.

Race walking is generally an unexpected detour.

Lindsay Herman, a Drexel University freshman who will be competing in her first Penn Relays in the 5,000-meter race Saturday, accidentally collided with the sport as a member of the Northwestern Lehigh High School cross country team.

Herman was nursing an injury when her team ran in a benefit race a few years ago. She could walk but not run with the swollen bursa sac in her heel. So she entered the race walking portion of the event as a lark.

She finished in third and in shock.

"My teammates were kidding me," said Herman. "That's a sport? They thought it was so funny I just jumped in there and got third and it was fun."

She got serious and won the thing the next 2 years. Race walking had become a part of her life. It reared its odd gait again in computer science class at Drexel when her professor started waxing poetic about the sport. In the middle of the fuzzy faces in the audience, one of them bore a knowing smile. After class, Herman shocked Jeff Salvage with the revelation she was paying attention.

Herman had a new coach and Salvage, the Penn Relays race walking coordinator, had an extra name for his list of entries.

The women's race, which starts at 8 a.m., expects 29 competitors, including favorites Rachel Seman, Maria Michta and Joanne Dow. The men's race, which is a 25-lap, 10,000-meter event, expects 15, including favorites Richard Luettchau, Dan Serianni, Michael Mannozzi, Tyler Sorenson and Alex Chavez.

Herman expects to be looking at some backs, not over her shoulder.

"I'm a little anxious," she said. "I'm just at the qualifying time. I fear coming in last."

She probably had the same fear when she first started this adventure.

1. There are no race walking movies. Wrong. Jim Hutton played a race walker in "Walk, Don't Run," starring suave Cary Grant, who strolled through his part.

2. Cartoon characters hate race walking. Not true. Ned Flanders not only likes the sport, he also likes extreme choir. At least that's what he told the WNBA's Lisa Leslie.

3. Race walking is really one word. No it isn't. Look back 15 or 16 words from here.

4. Usain Bolt is a race walker. Not true, but he did race walk against Jimmy Fallon in a TV bit that didn't count because Bolt moonwalked the last five meters to break the tape. That's a disqualification.

5. Race walking is the same as power walking. Nope, race walkers walk without cell phones and wear sensible shoes.